... trade, saw urban areas double, and sometimes even triple in population and physical size, which led to, as one contemporary noted, "a disproportionate increase in the town population...[making] urbanisation...a notable feature of the period"4. In rural areas however, the population was much more spread out and thus, unlike towns and cities (which, except for trade, could be argued to be self-sustaining), they were not independent elements and so had to rely on other villages to form a community in which all could survive. This inherent difference is one of the key factors in helping to explain the complexity between the different political and social features between urban and rural communities. A feature that was both socially and politically unique to the rising urban areas was the "consolidation of towns...as communities with a life and structure on their own"5. This identity, based more often than not on special political privileges, was recognised ...

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